Reclosable carton



March 14, 1961 M. F. MOORE I 2,974,854

RECLOSABLE CARTON Filed June 17, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet l March 14, 1961 M. F. MOORE RECLOSABLE CARTON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 17, 1957 jyarz'an F/Var'e United States Patent RECLOSABLE CARTON Marion F. Moore, Downers Grove, 111., assignor to Container Corporation of America, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 17, 1957, Ser. No. 665,944

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-87) The present invention relates to reclosable cartons of the type particularly adapted for the packaging of small articles of clothing, or food products, such as strips or slices of meats or cheese.

Among the important objects of the invention are to provide an etficient and economical one-piece paper board carton with a window opening which utilizes the stock out from such opening as a functional portion of the carton, in combination with other parts, whereby the carton is adapted to enclose the contents completely and thereby obviate the need for overwrapping.

Another object is to provide a carton formed from a minimum amount of paperboard and to construct the carton so as to be reclosed easily after a portion of the contents has been removed Another object of the invention is,to provide a carton having a window opening formed by cutting a hinged panel therefrom and closing the window with a transparent sheet secured around three sides of the window panel on its inside surface, such sheet being extended to overlie the portion of the carton beyond the fourth side of the window opening to completely close the opening from the inside.

cover an edge portion of the contents and with the carton back wall ready to be swung down to closed position;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a modified form of carton utilizing a similar arrangement of back wall which is cut from the central part of the front wall to-form a window opening, this forrn of carton having edge walls ofsubstantial depth; p 7

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the carton shown in Fig. 4 with the back wall in place within the window opening; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the carton with side walls secured in upright position, with side wall flaps in a position to overlie the carton contents, and with the back wall ready to be swung down to overlie the side flaps; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line 7--7 of Fig. 4 looking in the direction of the arrows.

The carton of the present invention finds advantageous use for articles such as womens hosiery, gloves, handkerchiefs and other small cloth articles, food products, such as sliced meat and other sliced food, and is particularly convenient to package a group of items of which it is desired to remove only one or, at most, only a few at a time then reclose the carton.v The construction of the carton is such that it completely encloses its contents and makes overwrapping unnecessary. In its preferred form the carton comprises essentially a main panel serv- "ice ing as the carton front wall from which a window opening is cut and the panel obtained from the opening is out only on three sides to form a hinged back Wall. The front wall has hinged marginal flaps to close three marginal edges and to cooperate with the back wall to close the carton completely.

In the modified form of the invention, instead of hinging the back wall and marginal flaps directly on the main panel, they are connected to the main panel by narrow portions forming side and end walls for the carton. This modified form, having more depth, is advantageous for commodities such as paper napkins and other paper products, school supplies, candies, bakery products, such as small pies, vand many other products which it is desirable to package so that the contents may be viewed readily.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the carton indicated as a whole at 10 is preferably of the no depth type and is formed from a single blank of foldable paperboard cut and creased or scored to provide a main panel or front wall 11, and excised panel 12 comprising a back wall cut from within the contour of the front wall on three sides only and joined to the front wall along fold line 13. The opening 14 from which the panel 12 is cut provides a window which is preferably closed by gluing a transparent panel 15 thereover, preferably on the surface which is to form the inside of the carton.

The strips around the window opening are left sufficiently wide to give adequate rigidity to the front wall panel 11. The two side strips carry hinged thereto side edge closure flaps 16, 16 defined from the side strips by fold lines 17, 17. The portion opposite the hinge of the back wall, and for convenience termed the bottom strip, has hinged thereon a bottom edge closure flap 18, defined from the bottom strip by a fold line 19. The bottom edge closure flap preferably extends along the entire length of the mainor top panel '11, but the side closure flaps 16, 16 are cut so that their ends adjacent the hinge connection 13 between the top panel 11 and bottom panel 12 will not extend beyond such hinge line, if extended.

The transparent panel 15 preferably extends across the opening 14 on three of its sides approximately to the fold lines 17, 17 and 19 and preferably somewhat beyond the hinge line 13 between the front wall panel and excised panel 12, and may be secured along the inside edge of panel 12 adjacent hinge line 13. By first folding inward the flaps 16, 16, then the back wall panel 12 and, finally, the flap 18, the contents of the carton may be closed completely.

For the purpose of securing the carton in closed condition the panel 12 maybe formed with a pair of spaced slits 21, 21 intowhich are receivedlock tongues 22, 22 formed on the outer edge of thebottom edge closure flap 18.

It is to be noted that by cutting away the ends of flaps 16, 16 adjacent the hinge line 13, the ends of these flaps will lie inside the fold between panels 11 and 12. By folding over panel 12, with consequent folding of the narrow portion 15a of the transparent panel, after the contents have been placed on such transparent panel and then folding the side fiaps inward, the carton corner portions at the ends of the fold line 13 will be closed.

:In the modified form of the invention, illustrated in Figs. 4 to 7 inclusive, the carton, indicated as a whole at 25, is formed from a blank of folding paperboard cut and creased or scored to provide a main panel or top wall 26, a bottom wall panel 27 cut from within the contour of the main panel on three sides only and joined to the main or top panel by an intermediate narrow panel 28 defined from the panel 27 by fold line 29 and from the ee-43m the plane of the remainder of the carton and then attach' the transparent panel around the three sides of the window opening with a narrow'm'arginal edge portion 32a extending beyond'the hinge line of the excised panel.

The top'wall panel 26 has extending therefrom end walls 34' and 35 and side walls 36 and 37. The wall 35 is definedfrom'the top wall panel by fold'lihe 38. The side walls 36 and 37 are defined from the top panel by fold'lines39 and 40 and the end wall 34'is hinged to the top'panel along two short fold lines 41 and 42 aligned with hinge line 29 which joins the end wall 34 and narrow panel 28.

Corner flaps 44, '44and145, 45 are provided on the respective end walls 34 and35 and may be secured to the adjacent ends of the sidewalls 36, 37 by adhesive, as indicated, or in any other customary manner.

The narrow panel 28 is preferably secured to the interior surface of thetend wall'34'by applying adhesive 7 between these parts. This maybe done beforethe carton leaves the box factory or can be done at the pa'ckers plant. In any event the blanks may be transported in flat form. An additional closure. flap 46 is provided, hinged on the outer edgeof wall35 and at its outer edge the flap 46 is. formed with a locking tongue 47 adapted to enter la slit 48 formed in the panel 27. Side flaps 42 andf50 ,4 struction may be'made without departing from thespirit of the invention, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiments be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being bad to the appended claim rather than to the foregoing dscription to indicate the scope of the invention.

I claim: N W m r MW,

A reclosable,- 'no-de'pth-carton" for-fried from a single blank o f foldable paperbpard cut and creased toprovide a rectangular front fwall panel, alrectangular lback wall panel cut from the front wall panel'along three sides to form a window opening the back wall panel having its attached edgehin'gedlyconnected'to the front wall panel along a foldlinespaced from and generally parallel to one edge of the front wall, the outer free edge of the back wall panel being spaced from the other'edge of the front wall, the material between such back wall free edge having an extent parallel to its hinge line comparable to but not greater thanthespace between the back wall panel hinge line, if extended, and the bottom edgevvclosure flap hinge, line, whereby, when the side flapsarefolded J bottom'edge closure flapmayihereaftenbe folded tolie jare hinged to the respectivewalls 36 and'37, adapted to against the front wall pai1e1,.1the back .wall panel and against a portion of the outersurfacesof thesidehclosure flaps, the bottom edge closure flap b'eingtof an extent sulfi- .r cient to overlap aportion'of the outer free, edge of the back wall panel, means, for releasablysecnringthe back Wall panel and bottomedge closure fiap tqgether, and a transparenyflexible s'heethsecured to 'thefront panel over -.upwar. 1y. or folded o w ly, A ent e c ndn s, fill the r e p .Y.and 50; lw pfirstbe t ne in, th pan '27 will then be swung down t overl e e $1 95. fien ,50 and finally. therflapt dw ll fo ed pven d t tong .47 n aged, thi li 4,8 nipatieliglielh pac gerwi th nfh c mplete, d readyt'r q ttsh rim m- It is apparent that the present invention provides a simp 1 nd asi y usa I 9 i an: be, re y -fomwctin the box p1an n jfl t t t e akstai ,bvth p ck r qui klyisetp rfi l dand na al-J 72 tth x n s m t qn an amus m nt. Q t t s ate t ai nd e ve p ng. t a atzs=t i.j n wil -.pl elr nd eitheq etsfl s nte at??? .ilremqvedgby hal se t t ai on .e r g s rem v d, the pa tqnsaa he ld edfii a amount of overlap of the parts ofthe carton srnall whereby a high degree of economy of construction SI fi idt V While the mega g "teenager-rearsrraria V bodiments of the invention, various changesinthe'c'dntheiwindow? opening, on the surface of the ,front' panel 1 which the back panel faces when closed'positiqmspch transparent sheet having an extended edgeportion folded to 'lie against the adjoining portion of the}ransparent sheet when the t r l s d an su h ,ed qp 'tlwrb fi cured to the inside surface of the baek'wall panel along its hinge connection with the front wall panel.

r es-95.6%? ef hs fi f ii UNITED STATES" PATENTS 2,113,238 fBer'ger' iA r. 5,1 1 938 2,135,041 yers Nov? -1,"'"1938 "23562098 Bamber 1TH1Y 18, "1944 235531 Bdifi I 2,624,455 Myers Jan 6,1953 2,7 12,3'82 Clarke Ju1yf5, 1955 f2,732,0 62 Pratt" 15111124511956 "2,755,986 Buttery July 24,1956

2,758,778 Arneson Aug; 14,1956 

